For more than four decades, Iran has been ruled by the Islamic Republic, a theocratic dictatorship that enforces strict ideological control and suppresses dissent. On Dec. 28, 2025, nationwide protests broke out across the country, as citizens outraged from decades of oppression demanded basic rights and freedoms. 

Amnesty International, a nonprofit human rights organization, reported that the protests started in the heart of all the chaos: Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Shopkeepers went on strike and closed storefronts due to the collapse of Iran’s currency. The movement wasn’t sudden or unorganized–the people of Iran had reached a breaking point after years of social and economic instability. Within days, the protests evolved as people all over the country joined in, calling for the end of the Islamic Republic. The movement shifted; it became no longer about the economy, but about changing Iran’s government to one that respects people’s human rights and dignity.

These protests are labeled by the exiled (post the 1979 revolution) Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi who called for a democratic transition, as the “Lion and Sun Revolution” after the historic Lion and Sun symbol that appeared on Iran’s flag before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. For many Iranians, that flag represented their national identity and a time before the Islamic Republic took power. As protests have grown, the Lion and Sun continue to appear on flags, posters and social media as a symbol of resistance and freedom.

The Islamic Regime did not respond peacefully to these demonstrations, according to the Amnesty International report. Instead, Iran’s supreme leader at the time, Ali Khamenei, accused the protesters of being “rioters” who needed to be “put in their place.” Rather than listening to their people, the regime cracked down even harder, using force, firearms and other weapons to disperse peaceful protesters, contrary to international law. Innocent civilians were arrested in large numbers, including children as young as the age of 14, and many families had no idea where their loved ones were taken. Those who were detained often faced serious abuse and were treated poorly.

The regime chose control over compassion, as they have been for the past 47 years, yet again deepening the divide between the government and its people. The scale of violence highlights how dangerous it is to speak out in a country with a lack of democracy, while simultaneously emphasizing the bravery of those who continue to protest despite the risks.

According to Iran International, a Persian-language satellite television channel, the Iranian regime shut down internet access across the country in hopes of preventing other nations from learning the truth about the protests as well as to create fear in citizens in order to keep them quiet.

The regime is not only controlling people physically, but controlling the sheer knowledge released to the public. By limiting access to information, the regime reveals its true colors: its fear of the truth and its need to silence citizens.

According to the same article, tens of thousands were killed during the Jan. 8-9 crackdown, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history. Reports from sources within Iran’s Interior Ministry, who spoke anonymously to Iran International, showed that as of Jan. 20 the death toll had already exceeded 30,000 people. 

There is something deeply chilling about numbers this high because they stop feeling like numbers at all. Every figure represents a person who had a life, a family and a future that was taken away, and the world is being asked to look at it as just another statistic.

In Kahrizak, a city near Tehran, the abuse faced by the Iranian people became shockingly clear. Videos and eyewitness accounts showed that a temporary morgue had to be set up because there were so many bodies that regular facilities couldn’t handle them. Families came searching for their loved ones, forced to look through piles of dead bodies and body bags, hoping to recognize their family members.

This isn’t something distant or abstract. It is real people being forced into unimaginable situations. Nobody should have to search through piles of bodies just to find remains of their loved ones.

The U.S Department of State explained that though Iran is a country with plenty of natural resources, its wealth isn’t being used to support the needs of the Iranian citizens. Instead, the regime spends its money bankrolling terrorist proxies, nuclear programs, the making of ballistic missiles and maintaining the hidden luxury lives of regime officials and elites.

The contrast is almost impossible to ignore: ordinary people struggle to live comfortably and support their families, while those in power continue to benefit from collective suffering to ensure their own comfort. This imbalance isn’t unjust, but intentional. When a country has the resources to support its people but chooses not to, it loses its legitimacy.

As reported by the same source, the regime routinely discriminates, harasses and arrests religious minorities, including Baha’is, Christians, Sunni Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jews, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women and children. 

The Islamic Republic has shown little potential to truly reform, and meaningful progress for the Iranian people may only be capable through regime change. 

At Pali, a campus that serves a large Persian student population in a city with over 230,000 Iranian residents, this issue is deeply personal and students have begun speaking out.

Senior Shaya Soleimani explained her father’s experience living in Iran during the revolution.

“I’ve heard a lot from my dad and what it was like to live in Iran as a Jew. Every morning in his elementary school they would have to chant Death to America and Death to Israel,” Soleimani said. “He was very scared and couldn’t express his religion freely until he escaped Iran.”

Soleimani also touched on why Iranians are now rising up and the consequences of fighting for freedom.

“They’re just sick and tired of it,” Soleimani says. “There are thousands and thousands of Iranians dying every single day, by their own government, and it’s not stopping.”

Earlier this year, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, only increasing tensions and contributing to the instability Iranians face. With power now passing to deceased Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, many Iranians see little sign of real political change. Since the strikes, freshman Arya Mostafavi explained the changes he wants to see in Iran’s future government.

“Reza Pahlavi is the [former] Shah’s son, and he must be put into power until they can find a new leader,” Mostafavi said.

For many Iranians, the Lion and Sun is not just a symbol of the past, but it’s a vision of what their country could become again. It represents strength, resilience and the possibility of a government that truly reflects its people. 

The Islamic Republic has shown that it cannot meet the needs of its people, and for many Iranians, reform is no longer enough. What they are demanding is a system that represents them, protects them and gives them a voice. Change isn’t just necessary, it’s urgent.